Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik It focuses specifically on one of the most central characters of the novel, Joe Chip, who we get introduced to in chapter 3 and who features in every chapter of the novel subsequent to that. We discuss in particular his role as a "tester" of psionic and anti-...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik It focuses specifically on one of the important characters we meet early on in the work, Glen Runciter, the aged but very dynamic head of Runicter Associates, a "prudence organization", which he heads, getting advice from his dead wife in cold-pac half-life w...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik It focuses specifically on one of the characters we meet early on in the work, the owner of the Beloved Brethren Moratorium in Zurich, Switzerland, Herbert Schönheit Von Vogelsang. He seems to be a rather unctuous, somewhat cringing business owner type, cate...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik It focuses specifically on the role that "prudence organizations", that is companies that employ anti-psionic talents or "inertials" to block or combat psionic talents, play in the world of the novel. These prudence organizations also belong to a "society" wh...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik It focuses specifically on one of the main aspects of the worldbuilding in the novel, namely that there are intelligent machines of all sorts that serve human beings, but mostly for a price. They charge for their services, and often banter with, and take posi...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik It focuses specifically on one of the central themes involved in the plot and worldbuilding of the story, namely the existence of psionic talents such as telepathy and precognition, and the existence of anti-psionic talents (called inertials) that nullify tho...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik It focuses specifically on one of the key features of the narrative world Dick develops in the story, namely the technology of Cold-Pac, which allows people who have experienced bodily death to be kept at cold temperatures and have their brains and thereby co...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century American science-fiction short story writer and novelist, Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik It focuses specifically on the advertisement copy framing Ubik as a variety of different commodities and services that begin nearly each chapter of the novel. Most of them also include cautions that the product must only be used as directed. And the final one...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on his discussion near the end of the third part of the work "Christian Morality and Ressentment", about whether Christian morality, based upon love,...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on his discussion in the third part of the work "Christian Morality and Ressentment" providing an assessment of Nietzsche's criticisms of and charges...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on his discussion in the third part of the work "Christian Morality and Ressentment" of the difference between Christian love and modern "altruism" a...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on his discussion in the third part of the work "Christian Morality and Ressentment" of whether the teachings and example of Jesus of Nazareth is mot...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on his discussion in the third part of the work "Christian Morality and Ressentment" of the differing possible motivations for engaging in ascetic ac...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on his discussion in the third part of the work "Christian Morality and Ressentment" of the connections Scheler sees between the modern conception of...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on his discussion in the third part of the work "Christian Morality and Ressentment" of the Christian conception of God by contrast to earlier concep...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on his discussion in the third part of the work "Christian Morality and Ressentment" of what he calls the "urge to sacrifice" that is an aspect of a...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on his discussion in the third part of the work "Christian Morality and Ressentment" of the transformation of the conception of love brought about by...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on his discussion in the third part of the work "Christian Morality and Ressentment" of pre-Christian Greek and Roman viewpoints on the nature and va...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on the very short part 2 of the work, in which Scheler discusses how entire moralities can emerge from ressentiment, and frames issues that will be d...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on his discussion at the end of the first section of how the ressentiment attitude develops by stages into a reversal and perversion of values which...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on what Scheler calls "situations charged with the danger of ressentiment", and the ones he considers are women in relation to men, older people in r...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on what Scheler identifies as "spiritual varieties of ressentiment, two varieties of which he identifies at the beginning of his discussion, the "apo...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on the ways in which comparison and valuation between oneself and others figures into ressentiment. Scheler thinks that practically everyone engages...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on the connection Scheler analyses between repression and ressentiment. The repression is complex, beginning with repression of the original object o...

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century German philosopher, sociologist of knowledge, and phenomenologist, Max Scheler's work Ressentiment, which provides an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of that same name. It focuses on on his discussion about how "value blindness" and "value delusion" figure into the dynamic of ressentiment. In the course of this discussion, Sche...